ncobarter.com — Northern Colorado Community Barter is a Go Local movement, a barter network and a community currency all rolled into one. Go Local, Buy Local You have probably heard all about why it’s best to shop locally.  All our member businesses are locally owned.  When you shop there, you support your local community. Community Currency The barter tokens give you that extra little incentive to support your community.  When you first buy a token, a portion of the proceeds goes to a participating local charity of your choice.  Then when you spend that token, you support a local business. Barter Network The tokens themselves serve as a convenient way for participating businesses to exchange services they need from each other without paying for it with regular money. When you buy your first barter tokens, you will receive the most current available edition of the Barter Guide.  It contains a printed directory of all participating businesses and advertisements and coupons further explaining how you can spend your tokens. About the physical barter tokens The medallions used in our barter group are produced by the American Open Currency Standard(AOCS). AOCS believes currency should have intrinsic value and not just be backed up by the faith of the government or even the community.  Gold, silver and copper have historically been used as money because they are nonperishable, relatively rare, and intrinsically valuable.  AOCS guarantees all its pieces contain the stated amount and quality of the metal.  All AOCS pieces, while having different designs, all have a standard weight and purity and are interchangeable across the country.  Your AOCS silver obtained in Northern Colorado could also support a participating local community you travel to.  Look for “AOCS approved” on the pieces you accept.

michigan.gov —  Background Notes The First People and the early European in the Great Lakes area engaged in a centuries-long relationship centered on the fur trade. Fur traders first came as individuals in the 1650s. They found excellent water routes through the Straits of Mackinac and up the St. Mary's River. They also found a source of wealth—furs. The beaver pelt became the unit of currency. As the business of fur trading grew, companies such as the Hudson's Bay Company, the North West Company and the American Fur Company were formed. Most fur traders worked for the big companies. They would use no money, but would trade items such as iron cooking pots, blankets, beads, knives, axes, liquor and rifles for the skins of the beaver, deer, bear, mink and other animals that the Indians had trapped. The Indians came to depend on the traders' goods. This changed their culture as they used iron pots instead of making clay pots and hunted with rifles instead of bow and arrow.

oten.capex.com — The history of Barter dates back to prehistoric times and has been and continues to be employed by countries, companies and individuals throughout the world since time began.  In its traditional and simplest form, barter is a method of trade which encourages the exchange of commodities or services between reciprocal traders without the use of cash.  Traditionally this takes the form of an exchange for value on a direct party to party basis where the needs and wants of the parties are satisfied by the barter transaction, (diagram A) of ”CASH IS KING”. However, this form of barter, although very attractive, does not provide complete satisfaction where the parties are unable to match their needs and wants on a direct reciprocal basis.  In certain cases a barter transaction may require that a portion of the value of the exchange be supplemented by cash in order to balance the requirements of the transaction.  Reciprocal direct barter transactions between two parties are not always capable of producing a perfect match as one party may not want or have a need for the product or service which is offered by the other party.  A solution to balancing the needs and wants of traders and the ability to spread ones  expenditure is to attain the unique property of liquidity and divisibility of money which is attainable only through an effective barter trade exchange, which promotes a myriad of opportunities and methods for multiple trading options (diagram B) of ”CASH IS KING”. As a barter trader your positive attitude towards barter trade automatically attracts business owners similarly inclined to trade profitably with you because of your willingness to accept payment in a method other than cash. This in turn gives you the opportunity likewise to avail yourself of goods or services by not incurring cash outlays and therefore being able to effectively create profitable business opportunities. In effect, each time you make a purchase through barter, you will achieve a financial benefit being an offset buy-back discount which results in an effective cash saving equivalent to your full gross profit. Barter should never be viewed as a substitute for normal cash transactions, but is an effective and profitable method of supplementing your turnover, by providing you with access to a large base of barter traders, who just as you, are anxious to acquire goods and services at effective cash savings.  No exchange business or person will ever have 100 % of everything you need.  However, your interaction in the Oregon Trade Expansion Network will give you access to a variety of items and services which should be able to fulfill between 10 to 25 % of your needs.  In general terms, Barter trade should only be regarded as 5 % of your turnover and not as the only method of providing for all of your expenditure needs. The Oregon Trade Expansion Network and its professional highly trained personnel have the experience and contacts to assist you in satisfying your needs and wants through reciprocal barter trade and in some cases, may even buy the item for you depending on the volume of trade which you actively achieve within the Barter system. From: http://oten.capex.com/oten_what_is_barter.htm

copper-etf.net —  Right now the only instrument that directly tracks the price of copper is the futures based iPath DJ-UBS Copper ETN – JJC. This contract has good liquidity trading about the same daily volume as COPX.   JJC seeks to replicate the performance of the Dow Jones-UBS Copper Total Return Sub-Index minus fees and expenses.  This is accomplished by investing in copper futures on an non-leveraged basis using short term treasury securities as collateral. The annual expense ratio for JJC is .75% (75 basis points) and the ETN has been trading since October 23, 2007 so it has been through a series of volatile ups and downs in it’s short existence. As you can see from the weekly chart below it followed the same volatile path as physical copper through the boom, bust and rebirth of copper prices the past 3 years. Comparing JJC to the leading copper stock ETF COPX you can see that since COPX started trading it underperformed while copper was weak but outperformed during the fall rally.  This is typically how the relationship should work as copper stocks earnings are more heavily leveraged to the price of copper. Both charts are through 1/18/2011 Tags: copper, etn, ipath, jjc Copper ETF Comparison – COPX VS. CU Dec.27, 2010 in Copper ETF, Uncategorized Comments Off Two new Copper ETFs debuted in 2010 and both of them focus on copper mining stocks.  GlobalX Copper Miners – COPX is by far the most actively traded of the two.  The purpose of the fund is to track the performance of the Solactive Global Copper Miners index, before fees & expenses.  The first trading date was April 20, 2010 and the mandate is for at least 80% of assets to be invested in securities and depositary receipts that make up the underlying index. COPX recently had an expense ratio of .65%, average daily trading volume of 180k shares and approximately $45 million in assets. Daily Chart from inception to 12/27/2010 The second Copper ETF that focuses on mining companies that also started trading in 2010 is the First Trust ISE Global Copper Index ETF – CU.  As us the case with COPX this fund also invests in global copper mining stocks.  It’s goal is to replicate the performance of the ISE Global Copper Index (before fees and expenses) with at least 90% of it’s assets invested in companies that make up the underlying index. Recently CU had an expense ratio of .70% and an average daily volume that was about 1/3 as much as COPX. ETF Performance comparison between COPX (black bars) and CU (brown line): Daily chart starts on CU inception date through 12/27/2010. Despite the fact that these two ETFs track different copper stock indices you can see the performance of these two Copper ETFs is almost identical over the period of time that they have both been trading.   http://copper-etf.net/

businessinsider.com — Picking up on the ancestral tradition, South Carolinians have spent much of the last two years asserting various forms of independence from the federal government and attempting to block different federal laws. Now a state senator from the Palmetto State has decided it's time for South Carolina to create its own currency. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/south-carolina-could-adopt-its-own-currency-2011-2#ixzz1EMTkiJHf

teapartypatriots.org — Tea Party Patriots, Inc. operates as a social welfare organization organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to Tea Party Patriots, Inc. are not deductible as charitable contributions for income tax purposes. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. ("TPP") is a non-partisan, non-profit social welfare organization dedicated to furthering the common good and general welfare of the people of the United States. TPP furthers this goal by educating the public and promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets. Tea Party Patriots has not endorsed candidates for public office. TPP welcomes participation by all citizens of the United States in online groups or blogs made available through the TPP website. TPP online groups and blogs are offered for the exchange of ideas related to TPP's mission, and discussion in any TPP online group or blog should be limited to the stated subject matter of the group. Positions taken or statements made in such groups or blog posts, including the endorsement of political candidates, do not necessarily represent the positions of TPP, Inc. or its board members, officers or employees, and should not be attributed to TPP without the express written permission of a duly-appointed officer of TPP. Individuals posting on TPP online groups and blogs are expected to self-police, to conduct themselves in a civil and responsible manner, and to refrain from profanity, slander and personal attacks. TPP does not condone and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind, and it will not tolerate comments encouraging any kind of illegal activities. No advertising, commercials or solicitations should be placed on any TPP online group or blog. While TPP cannot monitor every statement made on TPP online groups or blogs, individuals are encouraged to report violations of this policy to volunteer@teapartypatriots.org. TPP reserves the right to immediately delete any post, and/or to terminate the posting and participation privileges of any individual, without notice, in its sole and unfettered discretion.

ncplenty.org —   The PLENTY currency and the NCPlenty logo were designed by artist Emma Skurnick.  The bills feature illustrations of native species and scenes that evoke the character and values of our area.  The bills were printed at Barefoot Press on unique bamboo paper, and feature several anti-counterfeiting devices.

metalprices.com — Metalprices.com produces current charts for LME Aluminum, Copper, Nickel, Tin, Lead, and Zinc prices, as well as COMEX Copper and Aluminum prices. Click the link below to see metal price

rebelstatescurrency.com — On May 20, 1861, North Carolina became the 10th State to secede from the Union. Between 1861 and 1864 the North Carolina General Assembly authorized through fourteen Acts and various ordinances, $13,000,000.00 for the printing of over 25 different types of State issued currency ranging in varying denominations between 5 cent and $100. Only $7,800,00.00 of the total authorized amount was actually issued. Most North Carolina State issued notes were produced outside the state by printers such as J. T. Paterson & Company of Augusta, Georgia; J. Manouvrier of New Orleans; and F. W. Bornemann of Charleston, South Carolina. Most of these notes were printed on the front side only, however some notes were printed on the back of both recycled and unissued bonds and currency due to the severe shortage of paper during the War. All notes issued by the State during the Civil War bear the notation that they are payable to the "Bearer at the Treasury on or before January 1st, 1866."

coins.nd.edu — A Project of the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment University of Notre Dame, Department of Special Collections